Homes and business premises helped to be better prepared for future floods

As Scotland mops up after the impact of Storm Ciara, a new cross-industry Code of Practice on flood resilience has been launched which aims to make it easier for homeowners and businesses to install measures to protect their properties from future flooding.

The Code has been produced by CIRIA, the Construction Industry Research and Information Association, a neutral, independent and not-for-profit body, and is aimed at local authorities, insurers, builders and developers, as well as home and business owners in high risk flood areas. The Code of Practice is supported by the Property Flood Resilience Delivery Group set up by Scottish Government in partnership with the Scottish Flood Forum (SFF).

Welcoming its publication, Kirsty MacRae, SFF Project Coordinator, said: “This forms a key part of delivering Scotland’s 2019 Action Plan which aims to improve the resilience of Scotland’s buildings. Guidance specifically for homeowners will be published later this year and the Scottish Flood Forum will be working with others to make sure those giving advice and support on flood resilience are familiar with the new Code of Practice, and that the guidance for homeowners is accessible to all.”

She continued, “With the climate emergency we all face, people are likely to be impacted by flooding. For instance the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s recent National Flood Risk Assessment identifies some 280,000 properties at risk from flooding across Scotland. The Code will provide practical guidance to a range of audiences and bring consistency to the market, helping to limit the damage that floods can cause, reducing the impact of flooding on people’s lives.”

The Code covers both flood resistance – measures which can help prevent water from entering properties, and flood resilience which help to limit the damage that floods cause – these measures can prove invaluable in helping home and business owners recover from flooding and reduce the stress that flooding can bring and includes guidance and standards on each stage of the property flood resilience process. These include:

More information and a full copy of the Code can be found at http://www.ciria.org/copforpfr

See our SFF website for more information about the kind of property flood protection measures available.

[This Code has been developed by an industry-led Property Flood Resilient Round Table set up by Defra, members of the Round Table include the Environment Agency, Aviva, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure.

The project is endorsed and supported by the three main relevant institutions these being CIWEM, ICE (Institute of Civil Engineering) and RICS. The organisations came together to discuss PFR in 2016 at the same time as a Defra Roundtable on PFR was being pulled together.]